14 DIGITALIRELAND INSIGHT Thursday 10 February 2011 Jobs of the future JOBS
INDUSTRIES of the
in the FUTURE
ther than before. Which sectors have the most po-
T
tential in the next few years? And how can you position yourself to not only be a part of this, but to become a strong player in these fi elds? We take a look at both the emerging tech sectors and the areas at the forefront of the future.
Cloud computing The fog is lifting from cloud com- puting and many businesses are be- ginning to see the benefi ts. According to a Centre for Economics and Business Research report, com- missioned by EMC, €177.3bn can be generated per year if Europe’s top fi ve economies take up the cloud as expected. In Ireland alone, 30pc of ICT companies sell products and servic- es through the cloud already, and in less than three years this will grow to almost 50pc. Not only that, but an economic impact study has shown
that Ireland has a chance to build €9.5bn a year in revenue thanks to cloud, potentially delivering 8,600 technology jobs. It’s hard to ignore this impact
and, as the need for cloud grows, companies will be looking to IT pro- fessionals to point the way.
HE vast growth of innova- tion and technology uptake has meant that companies are crying out for employ- ees with the skills needed to push the industry fur-
Sonya Curley, managing director
of recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash, has noted that virtualisation skills are in high demand, thanks to the need for systems scalability and reducing costs. Employers are look- ing for people with skills in products such as VMWare and Hyper-V.
Smartphone apps Mobile apps have impacted consum- er technology in a huge way – 8.2 billion apps have been downloaded in 2010 and, according to Gartner research, it’s expected that this will more than double to 17.7 billion downloads this year, making the app business a US$15bn industry.
CLOUD
30pc of Irish ICT fi rms in Ireland sell products and services through cloud computing. Cloud computing could build a €9.5bn a year in revenue industry by 2014 (Economic impact study prepared by Goodbody Economic Consultants).
The astonishing statistics haven’t
been overlooked by businesses and many are keen to access this mar- ket. As such, mobile software devel- opers are high in demand. Not only that, but considering the
nature of this market, developers can fl ex their entrepreneurial mus- cle as well. A developer can design their own app and put it for sale on an app store, potentially helping them set up their own business. “It’s important that a software engineer in this day and age un- derstands how the entire life cycle [of an app] works,” said Dr Waseem Akhtar, head of the Faculty of Com- puting Science at Griffi th College. “You need to think about the problem and design the solution for that problem. Then, using that solu- tion, you develop a program. “But then you should know where
you should sell that program, how you should sell it and you need to understand the business model sur- rounding that app. You may have to hire more people, see where the money will come from and once it is ready, where the revenue is gener- ated as well.”
Gaming The gaming industry has seen quite a stir, thanks to the increasing num- ber of mobile and social gaming ex- periences. The accessibility and low cost has attracted fans by the bucket load.
According to eMarketer, the so-
SMARTPHONE APPS
Over 600,000 Irish consumers own smart- phones and 8.4 million apps have been downloaded to Irish smartphones (Return2sender fi gures).
cial gaming market is set to become a US$1bn industry and companies in Ireland are seeing the benefi ts. PopCap Games are set to hire 110 new staff in Dublin over the next three years.
Console gaming is still maintain-
ing momentum, with 1.2 million homes in Ireland owning games consoles. Irish companies such as Havok and Demonware have found global success with its software de- velopment and many international companies such as Activision and Blizzard have come to Ireland too. It’s understandably a very popu-
lar industry to work in, but it holds a lot of opportunity. A study has shown that in Ireland, there was a 400pc increase in employment in this area from 2002 to 2009 and, considering its growth, plenty more
opportunities will open up for this decade.
Research While research isn’t a new fi eld in and of itself, working within it gives IT professionals a chance to be at the forefront in discovering and producing new technologies. The importance of the area is essential in order to make Ireland an innova- tive force globally, and many com- panies are recognising this. Recently, numerous research po-
sitions have opened up. HP is cre- ating 105 new jobs in Galway. Valeo is creating 100 new jobs as part of a major R&D investment. Accen- ture will create 100 research jobs in Dublin over the next four years. In- tel also signed a US$1.5m research collaboration deal with Tyndall Na- tional Institute in UCC. With such opportunities, IT pro- fessionals have the chance to tie academia with the industry and be a driving force in technological in- novation in the future.
GAMING
Social gaming is expected to hit US$1bn this year (eMarketer).
THE EVOLVING NATURE OF TECHNOLOGY HAS CREATED MANY NEW ROLES WHICH DID NOT EXIST A FEW YEARS AGO, WRITES LAURA O’BRIEN
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